How to Get Out of the TeleCheck System

March 29, 2011

By: Van Thompson

One careless check can undermine your ability to write future checks.

Step 1

File an immediate police report if your checks have been stolen. Fraudulent use of your checks may cause TeleCheck to decline you. After you've filed a police report, send a copy of it directly to Telecheck, then ask the company if it needs any more information to verify the theft.

Step 2

Ask the merchant that declined your check for a check decline code. This code gives TeleCheck important information about why your check was declined. The reason could range from too many checks written in one day to a previous history of bounced checks. If you don't have a code, order a copy of your report directly from TeleCheck instead.

Step 3

Contact any merchants to whom you still owe money. Bounced checks are among the most common reasons for ending up on the Telecheck system. Pay the merchant and request that the merchant report the updated information directly to TeleCheck. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, merchants are legally required to update information to credit reporting agencies such as Telecheck when you pay a debt.

Step 4

Contact TeleCheck directly if you did not bounce a check and do not know why you are in the system. The system may decline check writers who have little or no credit or about whom TeleCheck has no information. By providing Telecheck with the information it requests or taking specific actions TeleCheck requires, you can get out of the system.